Should the weather cause open world damage

[Archimonday]

Sailing as a whole needs to be more engaging. Not only to make sailing an actual skill in the game, but also to prevent idling by players who are traveling to specific locations. There should actually have to be effort put into sailing on open water from location to a next, be that storms which you must navigate, getting blown off course, logistical challenges to solve, or just a bigger sailing simulation in the open world altogether. 

[Santhonax]

Definite yes vote here, though I wouldn't make it severe damage to anything except your sails/rigging. I toyed with the concept of having structural damage if you weren't sailing into or with the waves, but at least in the OW the distance vs. actual wave frequency wouldn't make sense (think of sailing in a narrow channel and having to turn into/away from the waves, but having no room to do so).

 

Now I would love to see such a mechanic in sea battles themselves. Even the old "storm" map from sea trials didn't cause any severe handicap for sailing sideways to the storm unless you were in a Lynx or Yacht.

[VonVolks]

I would like severe weather as a "change up" mechanic, but certainly not on a common basis. It should be pretty rare to encounter 

[la Touche-Treville]

Why only far from coastlines? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada_in_Ireland

 

Imagine a strong storm blowing ships against the coast where, if they hit, they get leaks, damage and can even sink if not repaired.

 

Agree that this is no easy task for developers. You could tweak the "Shallows" surrounding land to have a damage effect when a storm is present.

Ok guess I'm dreaming but this game just has that effect  

[Mansen]

Why only far from coastlines? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada_in_Ireland

 

Because game balance.

[Leviathan]

I really like the idea of a (rare) formidable storm instance that you have to navigate through and minimize damage. A few elements like this to put more emphasis on sailing would be a good thing.

[WilsonMG]

Any mechanic which randomly punishes players without a way to counter it is a bad mechanic.  Storms should only cause damage if there was a way to mitigate it.

[Hethwill]

Hurricane season. You can see it coming on OW from the distance... Change course or get to port... fast.... faaaster !

 

Countering it would simply come to that. Avoid it or get to safe harbour. One could venture going through the storm at one's own peril.

[MrCardoso]

I voted yes.

 

Why? Well i never went into a storm yet, nor will i look up videos for it because i want to see it in game for the first time.

 

Also if the storms limit your visibility alot, and damages your ship, you will have to turn away from your direction and when the storm ends, you will probably lost your way, so i do believe it's super immersive and needed!

[Aetrion]

Only if the damaging effects can be avoided.

 

If you can't avoid it and simply get caught in storms that slowly drain your money it doesn't add anything to the game other than being even more frustrating to people who don't have all the time in the world and might not be able to just wait till the weather clears because they have no other time to play. 

 

If you can avoid it and skillfully navigate around the danger then it will actually add a bit more excitement to open world travel, which wouldn't be a bad thing.

[The MetaBaron]

There should be storms that you have to take down some sails to avoid damage, or risk it to run away. Some ships could also have more resistance to taking on water than others (looking at you poor Niagra submarine). I believe this should also completely translate to battles as well.

[DeRuyter]

Only if the damaging effects can be avoided.

 

If you can't avoid it and simply get caught in storms that slowly drain your money it doesn't add anything to the game other than being even more frustrating to people who don't have all the time in the world and might not be able to just wait till the weather clears because they have no other time to play. 

 

If you can avoid it and skillfully navigate around the danger then it will actually add a bit more excitement to open world travel, which wouldn't be a bad thing.

 

I remember during the early days of the OW you could see the storms coming and avoid them. You wouldn't want automatic damage, but I hate seeing ships in the OW or battles on full sail 24/7 without regard to weather conditions or potential battle damage. A storm does not mean gale or hurricane force either, even a rain squall like we see in OW now would cause smaller ships to take in sail or risk losing parts of their rigging.

 

There should be storms that you have to take down some sails to avoid damage, or risk it to run away. Some ships could also have more resistance to taking on water than others (looking at you poor Niagra submarine). I believe this should also completely translate to battles as well.

 

Exactly. It should also change the way ships interact, say a 74 would have to close the lower gun ports making it easier to fight in a large frigate, or that 74 is faster in high winds and can catch a smaller ship. 

 

BTW I wouldn't count the Niagara (your states tall ship I see)  out - the Great Lakes can have some fierce storms as well. She'd certainly have to take in a lot of sail and strike the royal masts though!

[Captain Red]

Automatic, unavoidable damage is not fun, especially if you can't see the storm and try to avoid them.

 

How about some kind of storm damage penalty? For instance, if during a storm you set sails above, say, 40%, you get x% sail damage every xminute (like leaks, but then you cannot get your crew to fix sails during storms via the survival mode). So you could always choose to set full sails, but it will cost you a lot over time.

The lower gunport "open leak" is also an interesting suggestion.

 

Reduced combat and sailing abilities along with with potential damage during storms would add a very interesting, tactical approach of battles. After all, sorms are something we have to do with on OW.

 

Edit: Ha, it's been suggested before. I'm still in ^^

Edited March 3, 2016 by Captain Red

[haemol]

Do we really want to micromanage sailing through a storm?

As for damage, what about the most extreme form of damage - ship loss? Do any of you really want that?

I think you just have storms do what they originally did in the OW; slow boats down to a crawl so captains sail around them to avoid them.

yes, we want to have the feeling that we need to SURVIVE a storm. a natural enemy that even threatens the largest ships, a preditor no one can feel safe from!

no risk, no fun!!

you cannot grind in a storm, in a storm you can only loose, nobody wins anything, there are 100 reasons to avoid a storm!

 

but you wanna create an immersive game? put in things that everyone is scared off! make life at sea as dangerous as you can, and make reaching the safety of the port like you completed a mission!!

[mouse of war]

I say yes, but:

 

1. Going full sail in a storm should results in losing sails

2. Ability to sail upwind should be reduced or stopped - might get cast onto a lee shore

3. There should be a barometer on the UI to warn of storms

4. Ships should only be lost by being cast up on shore or perhaps if damaged and unrepaired after a battle

5. XP should be gained by surviving a storm

 

Survival has to be a product of skill as well as chance because that's how the sea rolls

[Smiling Jack]

I would love to see the Naval Action developers go back into the weather and add storm damage...that would be very fun and present a challenge to players who find themselves and their ships caught in a raging storm!  Right now as it stands the developers really did an outstanding job with the rain and storms..looks and sounds so real! The rain bands, clouds, color and shadow work they did really brings to life the seas.  The thunder is really nice to.  I would like to see lightning put into the storms and perhaps rework the thunder a bit...perhaps add more variations of thunder sounds with the storms.  All in all it's looks wonderful!  All it needs is a little polishing up and the storms in Naval Action will be simply stunning!

Edited May 9, 2016 by Trigger88

[Tazilon]

I think there should be a hurricane once per real time month.  It should start east of the lesser antilles or near the bay of campeche (most starting in atlantic) and loosely follow standard historical tracks.

 

ships caught in the storm could have a chance of suffering storm damage, even to the point of sinking.  however, as with real hurricanes, if you make it to the eye, you find an area of calm.

 

as for tornadoes - impossible because if you are under sail you would encounter waterspouts, not tornadoes.  should hurricanes spawn water spouts? meh - seems like a lot of work programming for little actual return

I say yes, but:

 

1. Going full sail in a storm should results in losing sails

2. Ability to sail upwind should be reduced or stopped - might get cast onto a lee shore

3. There should be a barometer on the UI to warn of storms

4. Ships should only be lost by being cast up on shore or perhaps if damaged and unrepaired after a battle

5. XP should be gained by surviving a storm

 

Survival has to be a product of skill as well as chance because that's how the sea rolls

 

I recall seeing somewhere there may be 3 day forecasts inserted into the game

[Sea Archer]

I would like to see the waves running with the wind and height should depend on the strength of the wind. when a certain level of wind is reached, the waves should move the bow or stern sidewards, so that the original course is lost. the player would have to correct the course permanently until the storm is over. That would give some kind of realism, mayby together with some slight saildamage for raising too much canvas.